Vital Ivory Coast road link cut

The army in Ivory Coast has shut down the main road leading from the government-held south to the rebel-held north of the country, a day after rebel leaders withdrew from the power-sharing government.

The move means an end to free movement between the rebel stronghold, Bouake, and the commercial capital, Abidjan.

Tensions between the two sides have increased in recent weeks with each accusing the other of failing to observe a peace deal negotiated earlier this year.

The BBC's Paul Welsh in Abidjan describes the blocking of the main road as a surprise.

He says there are other indirect routes to reach the north, but the cutting of the road is highly symbolic.

'Kids with pistols'

On Tuesday rebel leaders appointed as ministers said they were suspending their part in the government because it had no power, and because President Laurent Gbagbo unilaterally imposed ministers in the sensitive posts of defence and security.

New Forces have done their best to implement this accord, but we have a president who is doing all he can to find artificial obstacles Rebel leader Guillaume Soro Leaders' war of words

The former rebels - who now call themselves the New Forces - have also accused the government of training up militias and reinforcing the army.

For its part, the government accuses the former rebels of undermining peace efforts by refusing to hand in their weapons.

In comments broadcast on state television on Wednesday, President Gbagbo dismissed the former rebels as "kids with pistols" who were becoming inconsequential as their sources of funding dried up.

Hours before the road was blocked, a youth leader supporting Mr Gbagbo, Ble Goude, appeared on state television complaining that there was freedom of movement between north and south for the rebels but not for southerners loyal to the president.

Most of the rebel leaders have moved back to Bouake, but some are still in Abidjan.

Civil war

The former rebels joined the government in April under a settlement brokered by former colonial power France.

The rebels launched a campaign to overthrow Mr Gbagbo a year ago. Hundreds were killed in the initial uprising, and thousands more died in the violence that followed.

The conflict split the country into a mostly Christian and animist, government-held south, and a mainly Muslim, rebel-controlled north.

The nine rebel ministers made up almost a quarter of the power-sharing government set up by a peace conference near Paris in January.

The United Nations special representative to Ivory Coast, Albert Tevoedjre, has said he will talk to all parties to try to save the peace process.